Miracles
by Swift178
Summary: Miracles happen all around us. It's up to us to embrace them and take opportunities as they come, or we may never see them again. Couples are SonicxAmy, ShadowxBlaze, KnucklesxRouge, CharmyxCream and ManicxSally mainly with some other hinted at couples.
1. Prologue

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

Christmas comes and goes, along with New Year. Every New Year is the same for some, yet different for others. Some cherish what they have, some gain what they need and want. It's the time where friend's gathered, and cherish each other.

Sonic the Hedgehog knew the importance of friends around him, and nevertheless he needed them. Especially when his mother passed away, only two weeks ago. The worst of it was that he knew she was dying of cancer, and he could do nothing but watch her die in front of him. Plus, he was pretty sure his siblings would never forgive him for not telling them about their mother's condition earlier. All this led the normally cheerful blue hedgehog to be more depressed than usual.

The fair young pink hedgehog Amy Rose would visit him everyday, giving him solace and comfort when he needed it. It was an incredible shock to the young twenty-one year old, especially when she saw Sonic cry for the first time in her life at Aleena's funeral. She could only remain at his side, and look after him. After all, she had promised to look after him when his mother was gone.

Miles 'Tails' Prower spent most of his seventeen-year old life in his workshop, tinkering and inventing like he usually did. Christmas was a time where he would normally be cheerful, though he wasn't as cheerful as he once was. Her death made sure of that. No matter how many times he tried to push the memory of Blue Typhoon all those years ago out of his head, he would fail miserably. After all these years, it still hurt. It always would hurt.

Knuckles the Echidna, red-furred and proud, ended up with Rouge the Bat, after so much pushing from certain people. The two had been together for nearly a year now, and certainly were an odd sight to see. The two were forever bickering about the silliest things, mainly due to the fact that Knuckles was thinking about proper commitment yet Rouge wasn't the type to commit in the way Knuckles was thinking of. Yet they remained together, seeming like they were going to break apart at any minute yet were really strong at the same time, almost like super glue.

Shadow the Hedgehog, once miserable and angst, had grown a little more cheerful in the past year, now looking towards the future, and not into the dreaded past he kept. He found a lot of friendship from the group and shockingly ended up getting together with Blaze the Cat, who ended up in Sonic's dimension when her own was permanently merged with his. Nobody expected Shadow to even chance a second glance in Blaze's direction, nor did they expect Blaze to become so chummy with him so quickly, considering how shy she was. The biggest surprise came when Shadow proposed to Blaze, considering Shadow never seemed the type to be romantic in any way, and Blaze never struck anyone as being the type to accept, in which she did. Now the two are married, in their own little apartment, and actually living more cheerful lives.

Cream grew into a beautiful young girl, inside and out, and grew very popular with Charmy. The two young teenagers took to hanging out with each other enthusiastically, which was another surprise, considering how very different they both were. But this year, everything came as a surprise to the Sonic crew, and everyone had come to accept it, though Cream's mother worried about Cream getting involved with someone as rude and as hyper as Charmy, which was a little hypocritical because she was in a current relationship herself with Vector the Crocodile, who was easily defined as rude and hyperactive.

Sonic's brother Manic? He ended up with Sonic's ex-girlfriend Sally. No one ever saw that one coming, but Sally did everything she could for Manic, and looked after him when Aleena died. It was through the grief of it all that Manic proposed, and they now are engaged.

Sonia married Bartleby when Eggman died, just like they originally planned it. Nevertheless, Manic and Sonic were not exactly the happiest about it, considering they quite disliked Bartleby, and he quite disliked them. But they merely shut up and got on with it, considering they knew how much Sonia really loved Bartleby, though she hardly ever went into it.

Yeah, they all have a good life and this New Year's Eve looks to bring about change for everyone…


	2. Daylight

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

A smile crossed Sonic's face as he slid the box his mother had left him out of the drawer, settled at the table, and gazed at it, feeling Amy's eyes on him. Sonic's fingers trailed the edge of the box, his green eyes never more intent. He gently pulled the lid off, and searched the box. Eventually, he found what he was looking for. He smiled again briefly, gazing at the leaflet in his hands, before handing it to his friend.

"What's this?" Amy asked curiously, opening the leaflet and reading it slowly. Sonic said nothing at first, but merely watched Amy read. The smile that was on his face before had never left, and his eyes were misted over. He could never think of anyone better to share this important information with. Truth is told, ever since he had laid eyes on Amy, a strange feeling had existed within him, constantly taking a strong hold of his chest and squeezing it whenever he laid eyes on the pink hedgehog.

Finally, Sonic spoke, "That's what I would like to do more than anything else."

Amy laughed, "Travel all over the world? Haven't you already done that?"

Sonic and Amy had been to the local grocery store on their way back to Sonic's house, and they had started talking about their dreams, the things they wanted to do more than anything. It was then that Amy had jumped on Sonic and began begging him to tell her what his dream was. The truth was, this was only part of his dream. His real dream was too embarrassing to admit. The mere thought of it on top of being in the same room as Amy made the blue hedgehog pink in the cheeks.

"Yeah, but actually take the time out to see things, instead of it being a blur all the time," Sonic explained to his female friend.

Amy leaned towards Sonic and whispered in his ear, "Then what's stopping you?"

Sonic sighed, "I don't know. I don't really wanna leave everyone behind, especially not Manic and Sonia, what with… what happened and all."

"Don't worry about them, Bartleby and Sally will look after them. They promised Aleena they'd look after them, much like I promised her I'd look after you," Amy explained in a soft tone.

Sonic smiled weakly, "You're not going to stop until I agree to go are you?"

Amy shook her head, a playful smirk on her face, "Nope."

"But what about you?" Sonic asked in concern, "If I go, what will you do?"

Amy's cheeks flushed as she tried to dash any hopes that Sonic might take her with him, "I'll do what I usually do. Shop, cook and be merry."

Sonic shrugged, and his smile grew wider, "If you insist then! I'll go tonight!"

Amy put on a smile, trying to make the best out of Sonic's happiness. After all, it meant so much more than her own happiness, and always would. Yet she couldn't erase the beginning of heartbreak, developing inside her heart, or what was left of it.

**XXX**

Blaze staggered into the kitchen, tired and weak. Her muscles ached for rest, her stomach felt like it had jumped into her throat and was ready to release whatever it had inside, her eyes were filled with moisture that she almost found it hard to see. She almost toppled over, but collapsed on the wall and rested her whole weight on it. The cat pressed her tongue in her cheek and tried to prevent herself from throwing up violently.

Blood red eyes met her yellow ones, actually withholding levels of cheer for once. Blaze had never seen Shadow look so cheerful in all their friendship and relationship, yet Blaze wasn't really thinking about it that much, nor was she in the mood to smile herself.

"Morning Blaze," Shadow said, placing some toast in front of her, taking little notice of Blaze until the cat released a soft moan.

"I don't feel so good…" the cat mumbled, clutching her stomach.

"Eat then, you'll feel better afterwards," Shadow replied, pointing at Blaze's toast before slowly chewing on his own.

One bite was all it took. Blaze's body quivered, the skin underneath her white furry muzzle turned a pale green. The cat shot to her feet, rushed out of the room and spent a good few minutes in the toilet, violently vomiting.

Upon returning to the room, Blaze threw a dirty scowl at Shadow. The cat now had a bad smell hanging over her, and dripped cold sweat, "How could you?"

"How could I what?" Shadow asked, sensing an argument was about to begin, so he mentally prepared himself for anything Blaze would come out with.

"This!" Blaze yelled, stalking over to the kitchen side, picking up the box left from the curry they had shared last night, and pointing at it furiously, "It's out of date!"

"So?" Shadow replied carelessly, clearly not knowing of what could happen if given out of date food.

"You've given me food poisoning!" Blaze accused, pointing her free finger at him, before quickly throwing it to her mouth and escaping to the bathroom again. Shadow sighed in relief. At least he had enough time to think up a good argument.

It didn't take long for Blaze to return to the room, "I want to see a doctor," Blaze firmly told Shadow.

"But you're not sick," Shadow responded, an annoyed tone in his voice. It was pretty easy to see that his blood was boiling and he was sick of Blaze's game.

"Are you blind or something? Look at me!" Blaze shouted. Shadow sighed and looked at her. Arms folded, not smiling, upset with Shadow at something. Nope, she was as fine as she always was. But the look on Blaze's face was quite angry, and Shadow didn't fancy another match involving flames and chaos.

"Fine, I'll take you to see a stinking doctor," Shadow grumbled.

The black hedgehog grabbed Blaze's wrist, grumbled about time-wasters, and muttered, "Chaos Control."

**XXX**

"Hey there Bunnie!" Sally smiled as she opened the door to her friend, who stood there with a bottle of wine in hand, and her husband Antoine beside her.

"Hey sugah!" Bunnie replied enthusiastically, walking in and wrapping her metal arms tightly around her best friend, embracing her. It had been a long time since they had last spoken, and an even longer time since they had met face-to-face.

"Bonjour Princess," Antoine smiled goofily, bending forward in a wonky bow, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Hello to you too, Antoine," Sally smiled fondly, stepping aside to invite her two friends in.

Sally led the three into the living room, where straight away Manic was seen attempting to fix something that Charmy had broken when they had offered to look after him for Christmas Day. The green hedgehog was cursing under his breath, his teeth gritted, his fists clenched together so tightly it seemed possible that his gloves could rip at any minute. To be honest, nobody had ever seen Manic that grumpy, but it might have had something to do with the fact that the ornament broken had belonged to his mother, now deceased.

"Manic? Manic?" Sally gently shook Manic's shoulders to signal him that their guests were there. Manic looked up reluctantly and sighed, "Yeah, hey there guys."

Almost straight away he was back to fixing the ornament. Sally sighed at her fiancé's behaviour, "Can't you say anything else?"

"Sal, I'm trying to fix this thing here," Manic replied impatiently, waving his hand at her.

Sally frowned at Manic, "Fine, we don't need to talk to you anyway."

At that, the chipmunk squirrel stalked off, slowly followed by Bunnie and Antoine, who both found themselves glaring at the green hedgehog.

Almost as soon as he had entered the kitchen, Antoine had started cooking before Sally or Bunnie could say anything. The two girls immediately watched the coyote humming to himself as he used whatever he could find to make a nice dinner for New Year's Eve.

Sally sighed, gazing back at the door to the living room. It didn't take a lot of effort for Bunnie to notice, "Ya thinking about that old grump in there?"

Sally knew that lying to Bunnie wouldn't do anything; they could read each other like books, so she gave in and nodded. Bunnie leant a little closer to Sally, "You wanna talk about it?"

Sally sighed loudly, "I just get the impression that he doesn't want to know me. I mean, he doesn't seem to acknowledge that I am here for him. I know his mom's dead and it must be cutting him deep, but he seems to think he's all alone in this."

Bunnie shook her head, "Give him time, sugah; he'll see that what he has is a good thing."

Sally smiled weakly; "I'll just go and get some extra things…" she trailed off, grabbing her coat, throwing it over her shoulders and leaving to the corner shop. Bunnie shook her head. Sally shouldn't have to feel neglected because Manic's upset.

She sighed in exasperation. Hopefully he would see soon enough, that Sally was there.


	3. Secrets

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

"You're leaving?" Tails raised his eyebrows slowly as Sonic finally managed to settle himself into his living room, a fizzy drink in hand and a smirk on his face. Sonic clearly looked excited at the prospect of a new adventure, this time taking in real beauty.

Sonic nodded, "Yup, I'm going tonight."

Tails' jaw dropped and he stared at Sonic with an almost flabbergasted expression on his seventeen year old face, clearly expressing the fox's disbelief better than any words could, _"Tonight?"_

Sonic nodded again, the grin on his face leaving slightly, "Yeah… I thought you'd be happy for me…"

Tails shook his head quickly, stammering, "N-No, I am! It's just… have you really thought about this? I mean, properly?"

What was a few seconds ago a grin on Sonic's face turned into a serious expression, "Of course I have. Me and Amy were talking about it and -"

"Amy?" Tails butted in, "And how does _she _feel about it?"

"She's all for it," Sonic replied impatiently, "She wouldn't let up until I told her I'd go."

Tails frowned slightly. Sonic might be blind enough not to notice, but Tails could definitely see what Amy was up to. Ever since Sonic's mother died, she had worked harder than any other person could to bring him some happiness, to help him realize that there was more to life than grief. Sonic had opened up to her, and Tails knew, deep down, that she wanted it that way. Amy, regardless of how much she had grown over the years, still loved Sonic, and still wanted to be with him. Tails recalled something almost happening between them once, when they were alone in the park talking quite comfortably with each other, and they came incredibly close to sharing a kiss, but Cream and Charmy had appeared out of nowhere, Cream looking very guilty about something. Tails could only reason that maybe Aleena knew something was going on between them; otherwise she wouldn't have made Amy promise to look after Sonic after her death.

"Well… if Amy thinks it's okay…" Tails began slowly, "Are you taking her with you?"

Sonic blinked, "Who?"

"Who?" Tails tutted, "_Amy!_"

A pink tinge appeared on the skin beneath Sonic's furry muzzle, causing Tails to blink as Sonic blushed, "To be honest… I haven't really thought about _that_ much. I've considered asking her, but Amy's happy here, I wouldn't want to drag her away from her friends and her home."

Tails could see where Sonic was coming from with his concern. Amy, unlike Sonic, was always a person who wanted a permanent place, somewhere to settle, marry and have children. Sonic, on the other hand, was a drifter, who couldn't sit still for one second, and the day he accepted the responsibility of looking after a baby would be the day pigs started sprouting wings and flying. Amy was indeed happy in Station Square, with her greatest friends and Sonic wouldn't be happy if he wasn't on the move. But Tails couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to Amy than her outer surface seemed. He suspected that maybe Amy _would _want to go with Sonic.

"Yeah, I suppose, but who knows what Amy thinks?" Tails sighed, "She probably won't be as happy if you're not around."

Sonic shrugged, trying to pry his thoughts away from Amy Rose, and he attempted to change the subject, "So how are you lately?"

Tails shrugged, trying to make himself look as if he were merely bored, trying to hide the fact that the poor fox was in pure emotional pain, "Fine."

Sonic gave Tails a disbelieving look, "Tails…?"

"I'm _fine _Sonic," Tails persisted, "It's nothing I won't get over in good time."

Sonic suspected that Tails' thoughts had been on Cosmo a lot. It wasn't exactly easy for any of them when she died upon Blue Typhoon. Tails had taken it hardest, had isolated himself from everybody else and kept to his room after her death. He blatantly refused to talk to anybody for a straight week, and came out looking like he hadn't stopped crying the whole time he was in his room.

Tails was getting better though, Sonic noted. Smiles frequently started appearing on his face again, and he seemed to cry and brood a lot less, as well as the fact that he seemed to welcome any of his friends around his house for a chat. It was amazing what time could do in the process of healing.

"Well, if there's anything I can do…?" Sonic murmured quietly and awkwardly.

"No Sonic, it's okay. We have to plan your send-off tonight," Tails weakly smiled, getting back to the topic involving Sonic's trip. Sonic gave Tails a wary look, almost telling him not to bring up the subject of Amy, so Tails tried to rear around that, thinking that if Sonic wanted Amy to go on his trip with him, he'd make up his own mind, "I think that's the most important thing at the moment."

Sonic fully appreciated that Tails didn't want to talk about Cosmo. Sonic was in a similar position himself; he found it very hard to discuss his mother, so soon after her death.

"Yeah, I guess so."

**XXX**

Cream sidled into the Chaotix Detective Agency behind Charmy Bee nervously, an almost frightened look on her face, "Are they here?"

Charmy scanned the room, and strained to hear any sounds that may be emitted, "Doesn't seem like it…"

The bee buzzed towards the stairs, gesturing his fifteen year old doe friend to follow. Cream gulped, silently praying that Vector and Espio really weren't there. For once in the doe's young life, she hoped that Vector was with her mother, and that Espio was with that echidna girlfriend of his. Cream climbed the circular stairs, following the excited buzzing form of Charmy to the top.

Reaching the top was easy, and Cream began walking on tiptoe, in case Vector and Espio _were _here. She knew that if the two detectives found out what they were up to, Vector would want to be in on the deal, or even worse, he would tell Cream's mother and the lecture following wouldn't be pretty.

"In here!" Charmy excitedly whispered, opening a nearby door.

Upon entering the room, Cream immediately recognized it as Charmy's room. Several posters of a furry rock band hung on his terribly painted burgundy wall; the floor was riddled with wrinkled brown jackets. On top of every item he owned, was a thick layer of dust, "Sorry, don't take time much to clean in here."

Cream's worry was immediately erased by shock. Charmy had never before, in all the time that they had known each other, apologized for anything.

"Here it is!" Charmy excitedly exclaimed, pointing at a sliding door just beneath his blankets on his bed, "Here it is!"

Cream bent down as Charmy pulled out a giant plastic box containing what appeared to be more blankets for his bed. The bee settled it before him, pulled the lid off and rummaged in it, "Look!"

Cream's eyes widened as he pulled out a thick wad of cash, thicker than his entire hand, "Oh my God…" the doe gasped.

Cream had never, in her whole entire life, seen that much money. She had no idea how much was there, but it must have been a lot for Charmy to be so excited. Guilt crossed her fact again. She had been so sure it had been something even more dangerous, probably a slingshot or something worse, not a thick wad of money.

"I found it in the bins, outside where Sonic lives," Charmy excitedly exclaimed, waving the wad of cash in his hand around, "And there's a lot more than just this! We're rich Cream!"

Cream could only stare at Charmy in shock, "Charmy… if it belongs to Sonic shouldn't we give it back to him?"

Charmy goggled at Cream, "Cream… finders, keepers…?"

Cream gazed at the floor, "It doesn't seem right to steal. Sonic lost his mother; I doubt he needs a reminder that he lost his money too…"

"Exactly the reason why we should keep it," Charmy scoffed, "We found it, we keep it, we do what we want. Cream, we're rich! Think of all the things you and I could _do _with this money!"

Cream's chocolate brown eyes were beginning to fill with tears, "Charmy, I had no idea you were so selfish…"

Charmy's caramel coloured eyes widened in shock as Cream slowly but surely burst into tears. The bee didn't know what to do, he knew Cream was too good to let Charmy keep the money, yet she would never grass him up to Vector. Despite the fact that Charmy had gone against things that the Chaotix Detective Agency stood for, she had never told Vector. She almost manipulated him into giving in and stopping by her tears. If there was one sight Charmy didn't like, it was seeing Cream cry.

"I-I'll give it back if that's what you want!" Charmy caved in; he couldn't stand to see Cream crying a second longer.

Cream weakly smiled at Charmy, "You really mean that?"

"Of course I do…" Charmy sighed reluctantly, allowing Cream to hug him tightly in thanks.

**XXX**

The trip to the doctors didn't go too smoothly. Blaze took two more unexpected trips to the bathroom, resulting in the whole waiting room being able to hear her violently throwing up. She would then come out, her yellow eyes glaring at Shadow poisonously, and a bad smell leaking from her.

She elbowed Shadow with her sharp elbow, "Stupid hedgehog."

"How was I supposed to know eating food beyond a certain date affects your health?" Shadow snapped back, his arms folded in an angry looking position. The two of them prevented talking to each other mostly, apart from Blaze muttering about Shadow's attempt at 'killing her'.

Finally, the doctor appeared, calling Blaze in. Blaze got to her feet with a loud sigh meant to irritate Shadow, which in turn caused the black hedgehog to clench his fists tightly, "One of these days, kitty…"

Sure, Shadow did love Blaze. Meeting her had changed his life, but it certainly wasn't a fairy tale meeting 'love at first sight' thing. Upon meeting, they didn't get on that well. Blaze accused Shadow of being 'far too interested in the Sol Emeralds' when Shadow queried on what they were. They argued, and it ended up in a fight using the powers of chaos and fire. Time taught Shadow that if there was one person who was as defensive as Knuckles over inanimate objects, it was Blaze the Cat. In any case, the more they bumped into each other, the more they began to tolerate each other. Shadow got pretty jealous too, when Blaze seemed to get friendly with Sonic, and he wasn't the only one. Due to careful planning on his and Amy's part, they made fools of themselves and Shadow had found that Sonic and Blaze were only close friends. It was then that Shadow got the guts up to say something to Blaze and it went on a bit smoother from then on.

Shadow smirked to himself; he couldn't live with Blaze, yet he knew he could never live without her now that he knew her.

"Hurry! She's fainted! Get help! Call an ambulance!"

Shadow was brought back to reality as he noticed doctors rushing around like mad bees in determination to protect their honey, not intending insult to one particular bee. Shadow's blood red eyes narrowed as he decided to go and follow Blaze, deciding to keep out of it.

As he headed down the corridor, his eyes widened. The person who fainted…

It was Blaze.


	4. Dilemmas

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

"Hey Manic, sugar, I _really_ gotta talk to ya."

Manic's blue eyes narrowed as Bunnie Rabbot came into view. Of all the times the green hedgehog could have been disturbed; it had to have been at that moment. Manic sniffed and ignored her, hoping that she'd go away, as he set to work on his mother's ornament again. He had been working on it for the best part of an hour now and it hadn't fit together again yet.

Bunnie didn't give up. She continued to try and catch Manic's attention, and the green hedgehog found his temper reaching its limit, "What?"

"Don't you say 'what' to me in that ungrateful tone, sugar. We need to talk about Sally," Bunnie replied in a firm voice. Manic went to speak, but found nothing to say, so resorted to sulking while Bunnie's voice just washed over him.

Manic's thoughts strayed to his mother again. Ever since he was a little boy, the hedgehog had always tried to picture his mother's face and dreamed that she would one day she would drag him out of the gutter, cuddle him and keep him safe. Meeting Aleena changed his life, his dreams had all came true, and he had a mother. Her death only meant all his dreams had been shattered, and that he didn't have a lot of time with her at all.

"…and Sally-girl _only _wants to help you!"

Manic sighed, "What was that?"

A frown found its way onto Bunnie's face and she glared at the green hedgehog, "Were you _even _listening?"

Manic said nothing and Bunnie took that as an immediate 'yes'. The half-robot rabbit's frown deepened, "I honestly don't know what Sally sees in you…"

That comment struck a nerve and Manic growled, before everything made sudden sense. Ever since Aleena died, Manic hadn't treated Sally right. He had been neglecting her, hadn't been treating her right. Manic sighed miserably, what had he done?

"I don't know…" Manic mumbled.

Bunnie, seeing that she was finally getting through to Manic, calmed herself down, "You haven't exactly been treating her right these past couple of weeks…"

Manic had a look of hopelessness in his eyes, "What do I do?"

Bunnie sighed, seeing that Manic was beginning to see the error in his behaviour, "Talk to her Manic. Before it's too late and she gives up on you forever."

Manic said nothing. He didn't need to. He knew perfectly well that Bunnie was right.

**XXX**

"What do you want now?" Knuckles sighed, his senses straight away telling him that Rouge was right behind him. He always felt a strange sensation in his stomach whenever he felt Rouge approach him, whether or not he could see her.

"Nothing really," the bat muttered from behind him, placing her hands on her hips, "Just bored, that's all."

Knuckles sighed loudly, "Well if you don't like it on the island, you can always go shopping or do whatever girls like to do."

Rouge's face fixed into a shocked expression, "I like spending time with ya, Knucklehead. No amount of shopping's gonna beat that."

A smirk crossed the red echidna's face, one that he normally wore only when Rouge was around, either to symbolise him beating her in an argument, or to possibly hide any blushing, "Nice to know you care, bat-girl."

Before Knuckles could register anything, Rouge had tackled the echidna to the floor, and he could only laugh helplessly as Rouge tickled him under the arms, around the ribs, and occasionally on his stomach. It seemed like a long process, Rouge's tickling was turning Knuckles' brain to mush, or so the echidna thought. Eventually, Knuckles thought tactically and began to tickle Rouge back, careful to avoid her chest, not wanting yet _another _argument with Rouge about that issue. Sure enough, the two had laughed each other out, and the two merely lay in each other's arms, giggling silently to themselves.

"Don't-call-me-bat-girl!" Rouge whispered between breathes.

Knuckles smirked, bringing Rouge closer to him, "Fair enough… Rouge."

The two lie there that afternoon, and Rouge fell asleep not long after. Knuckles couldn't blame her, seeing as Rouge _was _a bat and bats were normally nocturnal, sleeping during day hours and roaming the skies at night. While Rouge was different, and stayed awake some hours of the day to see Knuckles and slept more at night, Knuckles somehow knew it was a relief for her to sleep now.

The red echidna looked upwards towards the sky, laying back and remembering all that had happened during the year. Two particular memories sprung to mind; Shadow and Blaze's wedding and the Manic and Sally announcing their engagement.

For the longest time, Knuckles had considered proposing to Rouge himself. He felt he loved her enough now to prove it, despite the fact that they had their ups and downs a lot, and constantly bickered about silly things. But remembering one of the conversations they had a while ago, when Rouge told him she never wanted to be married, set Knuckles into a slightly more worried state. Knuckles wanted to get married, Rouge didn't. Yet another dilemma in the relationship between echidna and bat…

Knuckles looked up at the sun overhead, slowly coming out from behind the clouds, "Why not ask her and see what she says?" he asked himself.

A new resolution in mind, he scooped up Rouge and carried her to his hut, resting her beneath the blankets of his bed, before leaving to pursue his latest goal; to get Rouge to marry him.

**XXX**

Shadow sat in a cold hospital seat, his red eyes settled on his hands as Blaze lay next to him on the bed. The cat had regained consciousness about an hour after arrival at the hospital, and her attitude towards Shadow hadn't improved one bit. After ranting at Shadow some more, Blaze had calmed down while nurses flitted in and out of the room, testing her.

"You okay?" Shadow asked after a long silence. Blaze could only glare at him.

"What do you think?" the purple cat snapped in reply, her yellow eyes settled on her feet.

Shadow sighed. This whole charade was spoiling his New Year's Eve, and it felt like it was his entire fault, "Blaze, I'm sorry, okay?"

Blaze said nothing for a while, "Yeah, I suppose you are…"

A green canary in uniform entered the room, carrying a clipboard and a slightly nervous expression, "I've come to do some tests."

Shadow glared at the canary, reading the name tag on her uniform, reading 'Tekno', "She isn't a lab rat."

The canary named Tekno took a deep breath, "We have to find out what's wrong with her, why she fainted. I have a suspicion; we only have to see if it's true."

Blaze gave Shadow a warning look, telling him not to try and prevent the tests. A glare formed on the black hedgehog's face, "Should I wait outside?"

"These tests can take a while…" Tekno said slowly.

Blaze grabbed Shadow's hand and tightly squeezed it, "Don't worry, I'll call you when I'm done. You go home and see the others."

Shadow really wanted to remain with Blaze while she had these tests done, but the look Blaze was giving him was almost poisonous so he sighed loudly, "Okay then, if that's what you really want…"

**XXX**

Amy settled at the table in the Rose residence and sighed to herself almost miserably. She couldn't believe she was allowing him to walk out of her life, she couldn't believe she had pushed him into that decision. But then she remembered the look of excitement on Sonic's face and she couldn't fault that she'd do anything to see more of those smiles on that same handsome face.

But the fact that Sonic was going away stuck in her mind and it didn't make Amy the happiest of girls. She knew the moment he left Station Square that life would change for her. She hadn't gone a long time without having Sonic there at all, and she wasn't looking forward to the emotional pain.

But shouldn't she be happy that he was happy? For the first time since Sonic's mother died, he smiled, he was cheerful.

"Hi Amy…" Cream sidled into the room, a shy look on his face, Charmy Bee following her in a buzzing, bouncing motion.

"Hey, you two," Amy weakly smiled at the two teenagers, "How's it going?"

Charmy opened his mouth to speak but Cream spoke over him in a nervous tone, "We found something… it belongs to Sonic… err, in the bin…"

Cream looked at Charmy in an almost hopeful way, and Charmy grunted, dropping a bin bag at Amy's feet, "Money."

Charmy buzzed away looking sulky, Cream staring after him for a while before turning back to Amy. Amy was in complete awe at the amount of money that was in there, "I had no idea Sonic had _this _much money!"

"I know, but me and Charmy thought it'd be best to return it to its owner, you know…" Cream shyly stated, digging her toe into the kitchen floor.

"Yeah, I guess…" Amy sighed in a depressed tone, "I guess you're right…"

Cream, noticing Amy's depressed attitude, looked at her best friend in concern, "Are you alright Amy?"

Amy sighed again, her head resting in one of her hands, the lights in her eyes almost gone out, "Sonic's leaving today Cream…"

Cream's mouth dropped open, before closing again rather quickly, the rabbit remembering that it was rather rude to leave one's mouth hanging open, "But he'll be coming back right? He always does…"

"He's going away for longer this time. He said he wants to experience the world's true beauty," Amy replied.

"And you don't want to be separated, right?" Cream guessed. She had known Amy for years; it didn't take much to read her emotions, almost like a book.

Amy nodded, "But he's going and there's nothing I can do about it. I can't force him to stay here; it's not what he wants. If he wants to go travelling, then I won't stop him."

Cream's mind set into thinking motion, "Why not… you know, go with him?"

Amy paused at that statement, about to reply before her brain slowly processed Cream's words properly. She had never honestly considered going _with _Sonic on his travels. She was in truth so attached to Station Square she couldn't see herself leaving it behind, along with all her great friends. But she didn't want to be apart from Sonic. Not her true love…

"I never thought about it. In any case, Sonic probably won't want to drag me alone on his travels; he'd want to go it alone, like he always does…" Amy replied after some deliberation.

"Yes, but if you _do _go with him… it'd be a bit like a fairy-tale won't it?" Cream queried curiously.

"Life isn't like that Cream," Amy began, "Not everything has a happy ending."


	5. Truths Revealed

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

"So you're going away huh?" Shadow raised his eyebrows at Sonic, who for the first time in ages actually wore a smile on his face, "Leaving all of us fending for ourselves?"

It didn't take long for Shadow to get home, being a creature that could run at such incredible speeds almost breaking the sound barrier. He managed to keep a cell phone on him, which Sonic took great delight at teasing him about. It was amazing to find Sonic smiling for once after his mother died.

"I'll be back," Sonic took a bite out of his chilli-dog, "It's not like I would leave everyone in Station Square to suffer."

"Yeah well, I can't say I'm not happy I'm seeing the back of you," Shadow told him with a smirk, "But good luck anyway."

Sonic had a smirk like Shadow's on his face, "Thanks for that, faker, there's a party tonight at Tails' place, you and Blaze gonna be there?"

"Depends," Shadow sighed, "Hopefully Blaze will be out of the hospital by then."

Sonic's jaw dropped, "Blaze is in the _hospital_?"

Shadow groaned before reliving the tale of apparently getting Blaze ill by food poisoning. Sonic was smirking more than ever by the time Shadow finished, "Should've known you'd try and kill her sooner or later…"

Shadow ended up growling, lunging at Sonic and gripping his throat, "Listen to me hedgehog, I would _never _hurt Blaze, hear me? So before you go and assume that I've attempted to kill her, it was only food poisoning and nobody even _told _me that I should check the dates on food!"

Sonic's cheeks went blue from lack of air, but Shadow finally let go and allowed the blue hedgehog to regain his breath, "You're… mad…" Sonic choked out.

Shadow was about to lunge at Sonic again, until his attention was driven elsewhere, "Is that Knuckles?"

Sonic got to his feet and turned around quickly, noticing Knuckles standing right outside a jewellery shop, looking at several rings with interest. Sonic and Shadow exchanged confused glances, before deciding on approaching him.

"What's up Knux?" Sonic cheerfully exclaimed, throwing an arm around Knuckles' shoulder and gently slapping him.

Knuckles cast the blue hedgehog a glare, "None of your business."

"Don't worry about the Knucklehead Sonic, Rouge probably kept him awake for a long time last night…" Shadow sneered, his arms crossed across his chest.

Knuckles' cheeks went red, and the echidna looked like he was going to lunge and beat the daylights out of Shadow, but thought better of it, deciding on sulking instead, "Shut up…"

"So what _are _you doing at a _jewellery store _Knuckles?" Sonic asked curiously. The echidna's cheeks tinged pink and he mumbled something, causing Sonic to stick his fingers in his ears, wiggle them around and ask for a repetition.

"I'm asking Rouge to marry me," Knuckles mumbled, shifting from foot to foot nervously. Sonic and Shadow's jaws both dropped, but their reactions after that were completely different. Sonic immediately burst into laughter, making up a ridiculous chant about Knuckles wanting a thief to marry him. Shadow said nothing, but then eventually patted Knuckles on the shoulder, congratulating him before delivering Sonic a sharp kick in the side, bringing the blue hedgehog to his senses.

"Will you shut up?" Shadow snapped as Sonic got to his feet again, "Marriage isn't all that bad you know, just because _you _don't like commitment."

Sonic gawked at Shadow, before saying nothing and allowing poor Knuckles to continue, "Thing is… she told me once she would probably never get married and Rouge doesn't like commitment yet I really want to ask her and -"

"You don't need to say anymore man," Shadow placed a hand on Knuckles' shoulder, speaking gently, "I know how it is."

Knuckles weakly smiled at Shadow, before passing a quick fleeting glare at Sonic, "Well, I might as well try, right?"

Sonic sighed with that same irritable smirk on his face, "Yeah, then you can have a white wedding, have loads of babies and live happily ever after. Sounds like the ideal hell to me."

"Who asked you?" Knuckles snapped, going red.

Shadow smirked, "Don't mind him Knuckles, he's leaving soon. Going travelling…"

It was Knuckles' turn to gawk, "You're leaving?"

Sonic nodded, "Yeah, the leaving party's tonight at Tails' place, you and Rouge are very welcome to come."

"Does Amy know?" Knuckles asked with a smirk on his face. Sonic's face lit up in a pink blush, and his emerald green eyes suddenly latched their sight onto his speed shoes. He found them very interesting all of a sudden and began to tap his feet, until Knuckles made an impatient coughing sound.

"Yes, she does," Sonic snapped, trying his best to stop himself from blushing, "And she's all for it."

The smirk on Knuckles' face grew wider, "You're blushing."

Sonic shook his head quickly, causing his quills to mess up badly in the air and he stared at Knuckles with an embarrassed, nervous glare, "I'm not b-blushing!"

"Yes you are," Shadow chimed in, walking over to Sonic and holding some of his cheek skin between his fingers, "Look; you're all pink in the cheeks."

"Sonic luuurves Amy!" Knuckles chanted, hoping to annoy the blue hedgehog after he had insulted the fact that Knuckles wanted to marry Rouge. After Shadow let go of his cheeks, Sonic turned on his heel and walked off, "I'll see you tonight at eight, Tails' place."

Shadow and Knuckles blinked, "That was different. Normally he'd have pounded the daylights out of us."

Shadow smirked again, "That's because he can't deny it."

"So Sonic fancies Amy…" Knuckles murmured to himself, "I'm so gonna enjoy annoying him tonight at his send-off…"

Shadow gave Knuckles a look of warning, "We'd better not. We don't want any arguments, Amy would never forgive us."

A faint, chiming ring was heard, causing Shadow to rummage around in his quills and pull out a cell phone. Knuckles' jaw, once again, dropped, "Shadow the Hedgehog is carrying a _cell phone_?"

Shadow gave Knuckles a warning glare, telling him to shut up or else he'd be in for serious pain, flipped open the phone and began talking, "Blaze?"

Blaze's voice appeared on the other end of the phone, "Shadow, the tests are done."

Shadow frowned, "And?"

"They said I could go home," Blaze answered in a huffy tone, "So come and pick me up!"

"Fine, I'm coming…" Shadow sighed, turning the phone off, and sliding it back into his quills. He turned to Knuckles, "Well Knuckles, I know you'd _love _to accept my fine advice about marriage, but Blaze wants me to pick her up."

Knuckles shrugged, "Fair enough, don't keep your missus waiting."

Shadow punched Knuckles on the shoulder before taking off at top speed, meaning Knuckles wasn't capable of hitting him. The echidna cursed before once again turning his attention back to the jewellery store, "Why the hell not?"

Knuckles walked into the shop.

**XXX **

It didn't take long for Shadow to swerve and dodge cars on the street and arrive at the hospital. The black hedgehog slowed his running speed to a normal walk and entered the tall, gloomy hospital, walking along a long corridor until he arrived at the room Blaze was in when she woke up after fainting.

Blaze sat on the bed with her arms folded, and she didn't seem to look angry at Shadow at all. She seemed to look almost frightened.

"Blaze?"

Blaze looked up into Shadow's face and sighed, "I'm ready to go home now…"

Shadow gently lifted Blaze from the bed, allowing her furry head to rest against his arm softly and carried her out of the room. Blaze said nothing, but merely allowed herself to rest there in Shadow's arms.

"So what did the tests say?" Shadow asked, clearly still miffed that his wife was tested on like a lab rat.

Blaze jumped a little in his arms and fidgeted about, "Nothing."

"Blaze, tell me the goddamn truth, will ya?" Shadow snapped, "What's the matter with you? Was it food poisoning?"

Blaze said nothing nor did nothing for a few seconds, merely looking uncomfortable, until she finally shook her head slowly, "No it… it's something else…"

Shadow growled, "Well?"

Blaze sighed, if he really wanted to know, he did have the right, "Put me down Shadow."

Shadow complied, making sure Blaze landed gently on her feet, not that she wouldn't if he dropped her, she was a cat after all.

"Now tell me," Shadow muttered.

Blaze sighed again, working up every bit of courage inside her, "You see… the thing is… this has never happened before, not between two different species apparently… and -"

Shadow groaned, "Just spit it out will ya?"

A huffy look came onto Blaze's face, "If you really must know, I'm pregnant alright! And it's yours!"

Shadow fainted.

**XXX**

"Party time!" Vector the Crocodile exclaimed, barging his way into Tails' house, his strong scaly arms loaded with beer. Vector's toothy smile was followed by a soft gentle looking doe in her womanhood, with chocolate brown eyes; Cream's mother. Behind them scooted in Cream and Charmy, looking somewhat excited, despite the fact that Charmy also had an aura of sulkiness around him. Following them were Espio the Chameleon, looking as dark and as mysterious as ever, and a pink echidna girl with amazing sapphire blue eyes, known as Espio's girlfriend Mony.

"Nice to see you again Sonic!" Vector boomed, seizing Sonic's hand and shaking it vigorously, as if they had no problems between each other and hadn't seen each other in years, "I hope you're well!"

Sonic nodded dumbstruck, while Knuckles sat in the corner of the room with Rouge on his lap, sniggering, "Very well Vector…"

"Well, let's get this party started!" The crocodile shouted, causing Espio to hide his face in embarrassment and for Mony and Vanilla to giggle.

Vector immediately dumped the beer on a nearby table and proceeded to get drunk as quickly as he could, almost as if he couldn't stand being sober for much longer. Vanilla hurried over and held the crocodile back from getting too carried away while Charmy could only laugh at Vector's almost desperate nature. Espio buried his head in his hands while Mony was left trying to comfort him and convince him it wasn't so bad.

The party was beginning to get started as more guests soon turned up over time. Manic, Sally, Antoine and Bunnie turned up about ten minutes after Vector began his drinking spree, Antoine looking like he'd rather be anywhere but there on the night. Of course, everyone knew that Antoine didn't think much of Sonic. When two young mongooses that Sonic knew from his childhood, Ash and Mina, turned up, Antoine immediately began talking to Ash; neither of them liked Sonic that much and was only there because their girlfriends dragged them.

Soon enough, some newer friends of Sonic's arrived, one of them being an orange cheetah with deep brown markings on her fur and an upside down triangle on her forehead. Her eyes were a brilliant hazel, with deeper orange around her eyes, and larger ears than the average cheetah. She wore a white sleeveless t-shirt with a purple love heart embroidered on the front, baggy purple trousers with a pocket on the outer side of the knees and sneakers compiled of the colours white and purple. A golden locket hung from around the cheetah girl's neck and her waist length brown hair, was for once, tied back in a pony tail. Sonic weakly smiled at CJ the Cheetah's presence, slowly without realizing it shrinking away, fully aware of CJ's slight crush on Sonic. CJ's hazel eyes met Sonic's emerald ones and the cheetah blushed, looking away towards Vector and his drinking mania.

Behind CJ was a black and white cat, also female with yellow eyes matching Blaze's. It seemed like every Mobian cat had yellow eyes to Sonic, who chuckled to himself as Jessie began looking around with a misty eyed expression for Shadow and Blaze, who still hadn't arrived. It was well known that Jessie the Cat seemed touched in the head, but it was her uniqueness that drew her to them, and Jessie certainly wasn't mentally ill as so many onlookers believed. The day Jessie became friends with Sonic via meeting him through Blaze was the day that the press had a field day; _'Sonic meets Crazed Lesbian.'_ It was also well known knowledge that Jessie was a bisexual; fairly rare among Mobians, and had a slight liking for Blaze.

A tiny little insect followed them in, his skin not furry like most Mobians, not scaly like reptile Mobians but a small insect, his skin brown and his eyes green. Ant the Titch smiled at everybody, who was all so much taller than he was. He spotted Charmy and Cream and edged away. Wherever Charmy was, trouble wasn't far behind him and he would rather not be a part of it.

Finally, everyone let out a groan as they caught sight of a brown-grey furry squirrel with sleek posh-looking hair and deep green eyes which withheld a look of smugness. Simone had her chest puffed out; where it had a badge saying she had broken some kind of record. She had a snobbish look about her and gave everyone looks almost like they were beneath her. Sonic groaned; of all the people who could turn up, worse than _Bartleby_, it had to be Simone the Squirrel. She was well-known for her competitive nature and her bad attitude, especially if someone beat her at something.

While Simone stalked over to the beer to apparently show Vector how it was done, Ant began searching for Amy which led Sonic to wonder, _'Where IS she?"_

Sonic noticed very well Amy wasn't there, and it made the blue hedgehog fairly disappointed. Of all the people he had hoped could have been at his leaving party, it was Amy Rose. She had been his rock ever since his mother died and she should be here. She might be late, Sonic reasoned as he saw two friends enter the room; Rotor the Walrus and Tekno the Canary, hand in hand.

It was well over an hour until Shadow and Blaze arrived, Shadow looking very dumbstruck and Blaze looking very pale. Sonic raised his eyebrows in confusion as Blaze helped a very weak looking Shadow into a nearby chair and left the ultimate life-form there while she went over to speak to Jessie, who literally jumped out of her fur at the sight of Blaze.

Sonic, after sighing in disappointment realizing that Amy might not turn up, glided over to Shadow, "So Faker, what's up?"

**XXX**

Amy Rose settled on the park bench, her hands in her lap and her eyes on the pavement, her mind still repeating over and over again the words Cream spoke to her.

"_Why not… you know, go with him?"_

Amy struggled to think; she couldn't ask that much of Sonic. His mother had just died; he needed his own space at this moment in time, she couldn't intrude. Yet Amy had no idea of how she would manage without having Sonic around. Looking after him took her mind off of her own troubles; _being with him_ took her mind off her own troubles.

Amy reached her hand into her pocket, fiddling around until she pulled out a crinkled note. Amy unfolded it and flattened it out, reading the message on it:

_Amy_

_You have become like a daughter to me these past few weeks, and I cannot think of anyone better to ask. Since I discovered I was ill, I knew I needed to ask you this. _

Please care for my Sonic when I'm gone.

_Thank you,_

_Aleena_

Wouldn't going with Sonic be fulfilling the promise Aleena asked her to keep? Amy shook her head, she was so confused!

"Maybe you should just stay here Amy," the pink hedgehog muttered to herself, "No sense in doing this to yourself."

'_But you promised Aleena…'_

Amy looked up at the moon weakly and sighed. It seemed like it was destined that Sonic should take her around the world with him, hold her and be there with her. It seemed so unlikely that two people so different from each other would ever be together in the way that she wanted.

"Maybe I should… ask him to take me with… maybe that's what he _wants…_"

A new resolution in mind, Amy got up and strode to her house, packing her bags ready for a new adventure with Sonic.


	6. Cheat

_Disclaimer: The only characters that belong to me are CJ the Cheetah and Jessie the Cat. As for the others, Simone the Squirrel and Ant the Titch belongs to my friend Ant the Titch. Mony the Echidna belongs to Mony the Echidna. The rest of the characters belong to SEGA._

**Miracles**

"She's _what?_" Sonic gasped, his hand shooting to his mouth in disbelief.

"Pregnant Sonic," Shadow said in a dark tone, "You know, that's what happens when women carry babies around in their tummies."

"I know _that_," Sonic whined in slight offence, "But you and Blaze are completely different species!"

Shadow snarled, "I know that. It wasn't intentional."

"Are you saying you'd prefer her to be food poisoned by you than carrying your destructive kid?" Sonic teased, ending in Shadow hitting Sonic on the arm.

"Shut up hedgehog or I'll end up doing something we'll _both _regret…" Shadow growled in slight anger. Sonic backed away waving his hands muttering 'sorry' over and over again.

A long silence followed, and it was unnerving for the hedgehogs. The only sounds heard was booming music and Vector staggering around singing terribly, while Vanilla had given up trying to sort him out and slumped down in a nearby seat. Vector stumbled over to Vanilla and gently took her hand, "Wanna dance?"

The adult doe blushed and allowed the crocodile to guide her over to a free space to dance. Sonic watched her happily dancing with Vector, not noticing that he almost wished Amy was here so he could do that with her, nor did he notice that Shadow's eyes were watching him intently.

"Missing your girlfriend?" Shadow jibed, noticing Sonic clench his fists in his lap, a look of anger suggesting he was going to smack him one. Eventually Sonic thought better of it and released them a little.

"Amy's not my girlfriend," Sonic grumbled in a disappointed tone.

"Well who else could it be, CJ?" Shadow sniggered, "Or is it a guy… Tails?"

Sonic was very tempted to beat Shadow to a pulp for jibing him, but Sonic didn't really fancy starting a fight on his leaving night, what would everyone think of him? So the blue hedgehog tried to keep his cool, "First off, I don't even like CJ in that way, she likes me and that's it. Tails is my best friend, nothing more, and need I remind you that he lost Cosmo, so I would shut up about him if I were you."

Shadow was very shocked at Sonic's calm, cool response and upon realization he remembered how upset Tails was lately about Cosmo's death and how he himself wasn't Tails' favourite person at the moment, considering he believed it best to kill Cosmo himself that one time. But Shadow couldn't deny that he knew how Tails felt; Maria, Molly… neither of them deserved it and at the end of the day, neither did Cosmo.

Shadow sighed in a guilty way, "Sorry, got carried away…"

Sonic was tempted to stay angry but managed to force the anger out of him and he weakly smiled, "Its okay…"

Shadow leant closer to Sonic a little, "But do you like Amy… I mean really?"

Sonic paused at the suddenness of this question and said nothing at first, but managed to say, "She's cool. She's done so much for me these past two weeks, and I _know _she still likes me. Whether or not it's more than that, I have no idea. I don't know if I like her in the way you're implying, but I wouldn't mind finding out."

Shadow looked at Sonic darkly, "You'd better hurry up and find out then. You don't exactly have a lot of time before you leave."

Sonic knew Shadow was right.

**XXX**

Manic was searching for a time to get a word in to talk to Sally, who was in deep conversation with Bunnie and Mina and looked vaguely interested in Bunnie's tale of SWATbot-busting. Manic was left in the company of Antoine and Ash, who were so busy whispering to each other (probably about Sonic, Manic mused) that Manic was easily irritated and part of him wanted to hit them.

Eventually, Manic had enough, and walked over to the three girls; one a chipmunk/squirrel hybrid, one a rabbit with everything from the waist down metal and one a bright, cheery mongoose. Manic gently grabbed Sally's arm and whispered into her ear, "Can we talk? Alone?"

Sally nodded and told the two other girls she'd be back in a moment before following the green hedgehog out into a secluded area. Manic could've sworn that Bunnie had winked at him.

Manic sighed and tried to think of a way to say how sorry he was, but his brain felt like it had turned to mush, "I-I… sorry for being mean to ya lately Sal…"

Sally said nothing, but tried to think of a way to say she understood how Manic felt, "You hurt me Manic… but I understand. I know how it feels to lose someone you really care for."

Manic blinked, "Your dad?" he guessed.

Sally nodded weakly, "Yes."

"That's no excuse," Manic told her, "I shouldn't have treated you so badly."

"All's forgiven," Sally smiled at her fiancé, "Don't worry."

Manic smiled weakly at her and kissed her cheek, "I love you Sal, never forget that."

"Same here," Sally smiled, "I'll be there for you through thick and thin. All you need to do is call."

**XXX**

Knuckles pondered for the perfect moment to ask Rouge his important question, but none of the moments when they were left alone together seemed right. He _did _want to propose to Rouge but he couldn't find the right time to. He certainly didn't fancy getting an earful from Rouge about it later on, so pondered silently. The echidna _wanted _to do it right here, in front of everyone, to show Rouge he cared, despite the sniggers he knew would follow from Sonic. But he waited, watching Rouge grab a beer and sidle over, settling next to Knuckles looking relatively cheerful for once.

"Hey Knuckie," Rouge teased, her drink firmly in her hand, "Enjoying yourself?"

Knuckles nodded dumbly, "Yeah, I guess, if you can count Sonic's moping because _Amy's _not here…"

Rouge shrugged, "Normally he'd count that as a blessing, but I haven't seen him moping at all."

Rouge took off to speak to Blaze, who appeared to be sitting alone looking very pale leaving Knuckles alone again. The echidna hit himself and groaned, "I had the perfect chance then!"

Rouge was never around him for long at the party, and it led the red echidna to be very curious of her behaviour as well as upset at the fact that he couldn't seem to get a word in edgeways. The poor guy couldn't find the right time to get down on bended knee, and was awfully flustered, as well as beginning to lose his patience.

"Hey _Knuckie,_" Knuckles groaned as Sonic sidled over, drink in hand, imitating Rouge, "_Enjoying_ yourself?"

Knuckles clenched his fists tightly, before a smirk crossed his face, "Without counting the fact that you're continuously moping because your _girlfriend _hasn't turned up yet, I'm fine."

Sonic went pink in the cheeks, a look of anger slowly crossing his face and his hands clenching into tight fists. Sensing the danger, Knuckles raised his hands, "Calm down, I was only joking. Don't you have a sense of humour?"

"Yes," Sonic said stiffly, "But that was uncalled for."

Knuckles frowned, "Don't imitate Rouge then, it doesn't suit you."

The two remained in silence, the danger of Sonic pummelling Knuckles into a pancake reduced as the two sat there, saying nothing to each other. Knuckles was quite relieved that Sonic hadn't mentioned his proposal tactic yet, but he knew that it was only a matter of time until Sonic brought it up.

Bring it up he did, "How's the proposal thing going?"

Knuckles said nothing, trying to think of an answer suggesting that everything was under control, so then Sonic wouldn't have a reason to laugh at him, but nothing came to mind. Knuckles hoped that if he said nothing, Sonic would back off the subject but instead the echidna saw the hedgehog smirking, "It's not going well, is it?"

Knuckles glared at Sonic, a look of fury on his face, "Firstly, is it any of your business? Secondly, no, it's not, but I'm working on it. And lastly, wipe that ridiculous smirk off of your face or else I'll do it for you!"

Sonic's smirk was instantly wiped off his face and the hedgehog took to frowning instead, "Jesus man, a guy can't even make a joke around here without you threatening to use them as a punching bag!"

Knuckles folded his arms, "Shut up."

Sonic's smirk returned to his face, a new idea hatching in his brain. If getting Knuckles and Rouge engaged would put the echidna in a lighter mood, he'd do it. No doubt he was putting dampeners on the party mood.

"Be right back," Sonic muttered, taking off between the party crowds, leaving Knuckles alone again to ponder his situation. He didn't remain alone for long though, when he caught sight of a tall, slim brown-grey squirrel. Knuckles groaned at the sight of Simone; of all the people he had to put up with, it had to be her. Simone was well-known for her big mouth and competitive nature, and even worst for her continuous flirting with Knuckles.

"Hey Knuxie," Simone whispered in a sensual voice, "How's it going?"

Knuckles scowled, his arms crossed, "Everything was fine until you turned up."

"Aw, mister grumpy?" Simone murmured to him as if she were talking to a pet of hers, "Do you need Simone to cheer you up?"

"I'd cheer up," Knuckles began in an irritated voice, "If you just left me alone."

"But I can't do that Knuxie," Simone whispered again, "I can't leave you alone. I _want _you."

Knuckles felt truly awkward, much like he always felt when he was victim of Simone's _evil_ flirting. It was always the same, she'd irritate him by talking to him like he was some kind of pet belonging to her, then she'd go all sensual and sexy towards him, before touching him and trying to feel him up. In Knuckles' eyes, Simone was nothing but a tart.

"Come on Knuxie, you _know _you and me can be happy together," Simone whispered, sure enough allowing her hands to gently stray his shoulders, "Let's go, right now. Back to your island."

"No, just leave me alone," Knuckles growled, not sensually, but angrily.

Simone smiled sexily, "I told you I cannot do that Knuxie."

Before Knuckles knew it, Simone had leant in closer towards him. The echidna could have counted her eyelashes for how close she was. She was getting closer and closer. Knuckles wanted to stop, but his animal instincts were taking over…

**XXX**

"Can I borrow this Vector?" Sonic asked quickly pointing at the microphone for the karaoke machine, not sounding at all tired for someone who had just run across the room, but then again, he was Sonic. Vector nodded drunkenly and allowed Vanilla to lead him away as Sonic held the microphone in his hand, "Here goes nothing…"

Making sure the microphone was switched on, Sonic began speaking into it; "Can everybody hear me?"

Everyone shuffled towards Sonic's direction and the hedgehog saw this as a sign to continue, "I've just been speaking to a good friend of mine, and he has a proposal for the girl he loves. Because he's too _scared _to make the proposal on his own," Sonic prepared for Knuckles to come charging up to the stage and beat him to a pulp, "I thought we'd help him. Go ahead _Knuckie_."

Everyone looked around to try and find Knuckles. Rouge scanned the crowds, almost hoping that it was she Knuckles wanted to propose to, and the sight that met her when she found him was hideous.

Knuckles was pinned up against the wall, being kissed rather passionately by Simone the Squirrel. Tears came into Rouge's eyes, realizing that maybe Knuckles wasn't worth it after all. No, it wasn't just him…

Fire sprang to life in Rouge's eyes and the bat stalked towards Simone, pulling her off of Knuckles harshly and dealing a hard slap to the squirrel's face. Simone didn't take that lying down, and aimed a blow towards Rouge's head, Rouge catching the fist with ease, "I thought you _knew _martial arts, Simone?"

Simone's cheeks went red with anger and she lunged at Rouge again, her fists tightly clenched. Every sissy swing she lunged at Rouge, Rouge dealt with easily, eventually pinning Simone to the floor, grabbing her hair, which Simone yelped at and complained that her hair appointments cost her lots of money. Rouge leant close to Simone's face, so much that Simone could smell Rouge's breath, "You slut… stay _away _from Knuckles…"

Knuckles moved forward, "Rouge I-"

Knuckles was dealt a sharp slap to the face much like Simone had received by Rouge, who had tears falling down her face, "I thought it would be you and me, I thought, after what Sonic was saying, you were going to propose to me, but no, you simply _had _to choose that slut didn't you?"

"Rouge I would _never _choose anyone over you!" Knuckles argued desperately; the woman he loved was on the line here, and all because of his stupid animal instincts, "I love you!"

"Funny thing to say to someone after you've just snogged another girl!" Rouge snapped, her arms folded.

"Guys…" Tails timidly appeared in the hallway, looking like he'd rather be anywhere else but there, "Can you take it someplace else please?"

"Don't worry, Tails!" Rouge shouted angrily, "I'm leaving! I cannot spend another _second _with this cheating scumbag!"

With that, Rouge turned on her heel and stalked out of the house without a word to anybody. She threw a hard kick into Simone's shins on the way out.


End file.
